Penn State to renovate areas where boys' abuse occurred
7/14/2012STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State plans to renovate the building where former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually molested boys.
The school intends to remodel the football team shower and locker room area as a direct result of Sandusky's crimes, university spokesman David La Torre said Friday.
Renovation plans for the Lasch Football Building were drawn up shortly after Sandusky's arrest in November, Mr. La Torre said, but the university can't move forward with those plans until all possible legal proceedings have been completed.
Sandusky, a longtime member of Joe Paterno's coaching staff, was convicted last month of abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period.
Two top administrators face trial on charges of lying to a grand jury and failing to report allegations of child abuse.
Some of the assaults for which the 68-year-old Sandusky was convicted took place in the showers of the Lasch building.
The disclosure of Penn State's remodeling plans came as the school weighs how to deal with imagery associated with the scandal.
Besides the Lasch building, there's the bronze statue of Mr. Paterno and the library that's named after him, as well as a downtown mural depicting the Hall of Fame coach and ousted Penn State President Graham Spanier.
The statue outside Beaver Stadium served as a focal point for mourners of the late coach, but it has turned into a target for critics angered by former FBI director Louis Freeh's findings that Mr. Paterno, Mr. Spanier, and other university administrators concealed allegations against Sandusky in 1998 and 2001 to avoid bad publicity.